Vega

Vega is a claw-wielding, narcissistic Spanish ninja obsessed with beauty who also serves as a personal bodyguard to M. Bison. Often depicted as a long-haired, effeminate self-lover. Certain archetypal characters are comparable to Vega, elaborated on his pop culture page. Vega is vain, overconfident, and highly convinced of his own abilities, almost to the point of megalomania. He is also incredibly sadistic and takes great pleasure in seeing the ugly murdered, and preferably mutilated. He often has a stone-cold demeanor, and does not even show a wide range of emotions. His narcissism and disdain for anything lacking elegance causes him to clash with fellow Shadaloo member Balrog due to the latter's boorish nature. Vega's vanity is demonstrated in how he uses his mask. He wears the mask not to conceal his identity, but to protect his face from scarring or bruising during battle, so that he can more easily view himself as perfect-looking. Vega often removes it after fights during his win poses, and his face is at least partially, if not fully, exposed in some of his character-select mugshots as well as some of his individual endings. Additionally, many characters are able to recognize Vega even if they never see him without his mask. In some games, he can remove the mask during battle. Vega's unbridled and solipsistic ego is shown even in his taste in interior décor, as his mansion is adorned with portraits, all of himself. Vega is also good at adopting elegant and gentlemanly mannerisms, likely because of his noble background. He has also been described as intelligent and sophisticated. Additionally, he is also attracted by the beauty and strength of young female fighters, such as Chun-Li and Cammy; in the case of the former he frequently compliments on her appearances. At the same time, he seems to derive pleasure from causing pain and despair to Chun-Li, and even enjoys taunting her. With men, on the other hand, Vega tends to completely look down upon them and is seen constantly scolding their fighting abilities and "ugliness" in his win quotes, considering his looks and skills to be superior. He also harbors a tragic side. The family trauma he experienced molded his fragile mind to perceive physical unattractiveness not only as repulsive, but also as a threat. With his attractive mother murdered at the hands of his unattractive stepfather, ugliness came to represent evil and cowardice, while beauty represented heroism and strength. This also implies that Vega's hatred of anything "ugly" may actually be a manifestation of post-traumatic stress disorder. It has also been said that Vega's love of beauty is at least partially rooted in the way he was raised by his mother. Vega is a tall, strikingly handsome young man with long hair that is braided into a ponytail. Vega's hair is blonde. He wears murrey and yellow ceremonial trousers, a red sash, loafers, and white leggings of a matador, suggesting his involvement with bullfighting. This decorative garb offers matadors ease of movement, and is therefore ideal for Vega's acrobatic maneuvers. Vega also has a purple snake tattoo on his chest which circles his left arm, and on his right arm and both his wrists he wears gold-colored armlets. The tattoo shows him to be a villain to a Japanese audience, where body tattoos are usually worn by Yakuza members. As a win pose, Vega will hold his arm out, with the tattoo coming to life and hissing at the opponent. In most Street Fighter media, he also maintains long and sharp nails on his hands. Vega has a white mask that is lacking in facial features or expressions. There is a purple symbol on his mask, the same color as his tattoos. Vega was born to a privileged noble family in Spain. For reasons undisclosed, their status dwindled, causing Vega's mother to remarry for financial security. Growing up to the arts of hunting, later as he matured, Vega studied bullfighting, a cultural tradition, finding the sport more exciting and honorable in being able to dispatch his prey up close with his own might. Afterward, he went to Japan and learned ninjutsu, a style he believed meshed well with his natural grace and agility. Combining bullfighting with ninjutsu, Vega went into an underground cage fighting circuit, and quickly became one of the best. His ugly stepfather murdered his beautiful mother because he felt she did not respect him, and Vega killed him in return. The incident warped his mind, and he developed a dual personality: honorable nobleman by day, sadistic murderer by night. It also triggered Vega's obsession with beauty as a wonderful trait, as well as his belief that ugliness is something evil that should be purged. Vega oversaw assassination operations for Shadaloo, and was associated with Cammy and the Shadaloo assassins known as the Dolls. When Cammy went rogue however, Vega was assigned to bring her in and although he failed in that mission, Cammy brought herself in and defeated M. Bison, freeing herself and the other Dolls from Bison's brainwashing. When the strain of undoing the brainwashing (as well as a dead-man's trigger in the brainwashing which was meant to kill them if they betrayed Bison) caused Cammy and the other Dolls to collapse, Vega saved them from the burning Shadaloo base because he didn't believe that anything as beautiful as them should die. Vega then participated in the second World Warrior tournament at the behest of Bison, during which he battled Ken Masters. However, when Bison was seemingly killed by an unknown assailant, Vega disappeared back into his old lifestyle. Vega makes a small appearance near the end, when he is seen along with Balrog in a Shadaloo helicopter. As a heavily injured Seth drags himself aboard, he gives him a message from Bison, telling him that while he "put on a fantastic show", S.I.N.'s success has only come through the manipulation of Shadaloo working behind the scenes to ensure their good fortune. It is unknown what Vega was doing since the fall of Shadaloo; he was rumored to have returned to bullfighting, and was believed by several people to be dead. However, Vega was alive, and a subdivision of Shadaloo called S.I.N. attempted to re-recruit him. Vega quickly accepted the subsidiary's offer, as he was intrigued at the idea of creating new bodies for oneself so as to be eternally young, and was otherwise tired of the aristocratic lifestyle, finding money and power to be an "ugly" combination. At S.I.N. HQ, while Seth was distracted by several assailants (not least of whom was a newly resurrected Bison), Vega stole valuable data on the project, and when Chun-Li did the same thing, he attempted to kill her by setting off the fire alarm, which released a toxic, fire-retardant spray. He escaped in a helicopter from the exploding base and noticed Chun-Li being rescued from the base along with her copy of the data. Mildly displeased that he did not have the only copy, Vega resolved to correct the situation later. In New York, F.A.N.G, Balrog, and Vega bicker about the success and failures of Operation C.H.A.I.N.S. When Bison appears for a report of "the other device", F.A.N.G brings forth two Shadaloo soldiers to test out against Balrog and Vega. After defeating the soldiers, the two kings threaten F.A.N.G. Chun-Li and Guile appear and take notice of the carnage, before finally seeing Bison. Chun-Li confronts them, despite Guile's efforts to stop her. Bison steps forward and engages her himself, stating she was foolish to come. With a burst of Psycho Power, Bison throws Chun-Li to the floor. Guile rushes to her aid, but is intercepted by Vega who challenges him. Later on in Brazil, Vega watches a now fugitive Cammy ride off with Juri and Decapre, obsessed with his own mission of subjugating Cammy. Vega continues to stalk the trio until they arrive in London, where he springs into action and attacks Cammy. After defeating the former Doll handily, Vega approaches the unconscious Cammy to admire her beauty, picking up one of her braids. However, before he gets the chance, he is interrupted by Juri who claims that Cammy was hers since she picked her up first. As Juri holds off Vega, Cammy regains consciousness. Upon seeing Vega standing beside Decapre, she quickly kicks the mask off his face, forcing him to back off. As Cammy defends the unconscious Decapre, Vega chuckles and retreats. Vega is next seen during the Street Fighters' assault on Shadaloo's base of operations, where he once again encounters Cammy, who had just defeated the brainwashed Juli. After dodging his slash, Cammy gets in her stance as Vega mocks her. Cammy tries to attack him with a Spiral Arrow. He avoids her attack and proceeds with the battle. Although Vega once again emerges victorious, before he can finish her, Decapre appears and saves Cammy. After the other Dolls are freed from their brainwashing, Vega makes his exit. Vega is depicted playing a violin at a concert when Dee Jay reminisces about Shadaloo, mistakenly believing the criminal syndicate was a popular band. The resurrected M. Bison, upon regaining some of his memories, orders the Avatar to seek out information on both Vega and Balrog. With the assistance of a contact named "Foo," the Avatar travels to the Colosseo where they are challenged to fight a boy named Ignacio, who wears a mask just like Vega's. The Avatar is instructed to fight the match in a "beautiful" fashion: win without taking any damage. After defeating Ignacio, the Avatar takes the boy's mask and delivers it to Fang Fei in Metro City. They are then instructed to go to Nayshall for their next step in finding Balrog. Upon arriving, Vega contacts the Avatar via text message out of gratitude for their "assistance" with Ignacio. Vega admits that he never cared much for Shadaloo and as the master of his own castle, he never had any desire for absolute power. However, he did see some beauty in Bison's mad ambitions and states that if Bison truly is reborn, then perhaps he may take up his claw once again. he is 27 years old.